Analysis: Siemens' profits fall as Vestas gains onshore

29 May 2015
by James Quilter

EUROPE: Siemens and Vestas have announced contrasting fortunes in the second quarter, with one boasting a record order book and the other a €41 million loss. Siemens' reported loss may come as a surprise given that it was labelled the world's biggest manufacturer in 2014 by Make Consulting.

A Siemens 6MW turbine being installed at Westermost Rough, UK

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Siemens reported a drop in offshore orders, at €1.41 billion for the quarter, down from €1.68 billion in the same period last year. Much of 2014's installations came prior to this. The firm's problem stems from a possible supply chain gap between current in-construction projects and bigger ones planned to come online before 2020.

Make's number two manufacturer, Vestas, seems unaffected by the loss of its offshore arm, MHI Vestas. In its second-quarter results, it said it had "its biggest order backlog ever". This comprises services and turbines supply agreements for €15 billion.

Vestas also posted €1.5 billion revenues, an 18% increase on quarter one in 2014, aided by strong performance in Europe and the Americas. Orders were at 1.75GW in quarter one of 2015, worth €7.5 billion at 31 March.

Order backlog

The backlog of turbine orders and service agreements is valued at €15 billion - a rise of €1.2 billion on quarter one in 2014. This helped Vestas bank €79 million, a rise of €39 million. Its revenue is expected to be a minimum €7.5 billion, up on the previous €6.5 billion, including service revenue.

Gamesa also posted strong results. It recorded pre-tax earnings of €66 million in the first quarter of 2014, an increase of 92% year on year. This was helped by a 43% growth in sales, which hit €820 million in the first three months of 2015. It sold 712MW of turbines, 25.6% up on the same period last year. India (27%) and China (24%) made up most of the Spanish manufacturer's orders in the quarter. It added that Adwen, its offshore joint venture with Areva, had a €18.5 million positive impact on net profit.

Nordex

Increased activity in Europe, the Middle East and Africa has helped boost Nordex's quarter one net profit 62% year-on-year to €14.8 million. It said activity in the US and Asia had fallen despite a 17% increase in sales. Output is up 44.2% with turbine production rising to 462.1MW. Earnings rose 17.3% from EUR21.1 million in 2014, to €24.8 million this year. Nordex said its order book is now €1.6 billion and its board expects sales to hit €2.1 billion this year.